otter42 Posted July 7, 2020 Share #1 Posted July 7, 2020 Have been trying to figure out what the soldier wrote on this dog tag and who he was. One side looks like "Whats his name". On the other side it looks like, "Japanese Dog Tag", "1/4 Sonkovick or Sankovick", "45", "FA BN", "HBOARAS". Help with my bad eyes please. I looked for him on NARA but couldn't find him. Also any help with the translation of the Japanese would be greatly appreciated. If I can take better pics let me know, thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otter42 Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share #2 Posted July 8, 2020 More pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otter42 Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share #3 Posted July 8, 2020 More Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Queen Posted July 8, 2020 Share #4 Posted July 8, 2020 It's not a dog tag. It's a permission card to be out, like a pass. Gaishutsu Shou 外出證 Card number 272 Unit number 1532 of the " I " (威) regiment. The Japanese used kanji to represent regiment (and perhaps higher) numbers for security reasons I assume. I certainly am not an expert on it. The best person to ask would be Rod at WMF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otter42 Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted July 8, 2020 Thank you very much for the info! The GI thought it was a dog tag too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomP Posted July 10, 2020 Share #6 Posted July 10, 2020 Looks like Unit 15311 to me, for the Manila Army Air Depot, under the 14th Army. At the very least, this tag came from the Philippines. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otter42 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share #7 Posted July 10, 2020 Thank you Tom for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otter42 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share #8 Posted July 10, 2020 Rod from the World militaria forum was very helpful, this is what he shared with me: Your pass says (kanji "code name" and number read thus) "i"15311. It's the code for the (Philippines) 4th Air Army's Manila Army Air Depot, with 8,689 personnel employed. These men would have become irregular infantry and transport soldiers after the 4th Air Army was demobilized for lack of aircraft. One more thing. The "i" code name is the Southern Expeditionary Army's code name, it's complicated but the 4th Air Army and the 14th Area Army in the Philippines both had different code names. The Southern Expeditionary Army's headquarters was deployed in the Philippines for a while so that may have had something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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